Original meaning: a type of snake creature
Depicts a snake-like creature. Based on the original meaning "a type of snake creature". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.
Character Evolution
Component uses
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | ziX | s-[ɢ]əʔ | 6th earthly branch |
說文解字
《說文》：“巳，巳也，四月陽气巳出，陰气巳藏，萬物見，成文章，故巳為蛇。象形。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.979
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 它 represents the sound. Originally written as 它.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | zyae | Cə.lAj | snake |
| ye | laj | 委蛇 compliant, complacent |
說文解字
《說文》：“它，虫也。从虫而長，象冤曲垂尾形。上古艸居患它，故相問無它乎。蛇，它或从虫。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)